Improvement in rotary engines



P. B.l MARTIN. Ro'r'ARY ENGINES.'

No. 195,032, Patented Sept.11,1877.

X/l Y.

UNITED PIERRE B. MARTIN, OF BORDEAUX, FRANCE.

IMPROVEMENT IN ROTARY ENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 1195,03?, datedSeptember 11, 1877 application filed May 28, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PIERRE BERNARD MAR- TIN, of Bordeaux, France, haveinvented an Improved Rotary Engine, of which the following is aspecification:

My invention consists in a novel construction of rotary motor engine tobe worked by steam or other iiuid under pressure.

Within an exterior fixed-cylinder casing I mount, on a shaft whichpasses through packings at the ends of the cylinder-casing, an innerrotating cylinder of smaller diameter than the former, and eccentric toit, so that it touches its interior at one side. To the rotatingcylinder are jointed, at opposite points of its circumference, twofolding wings, which, when folded inward, lie in such a position as toform part of the circumference of the rotating cylinder, and cantherefore pass its point of contact with the fixed-cylinder casing, and,when folded outward, bear by their edges on the inner surface of thefixed-cylinder casing. At the end of the fixed-cylinder casing is fitteda packing-piece, in the form of an annular piston, behind which theWorking-fluid is admitted, pressing it against the end of the rotatingcylinder, and thereby keeping the latter tight endwise. Through a holein this packing-piece the iiuid passes into either of two grooves formedin the end of the rotating cylinder, each of these grooves being ofnearly semicircular form, extending nearly half around the end of therotating cylinder, and communieating with a longitudinal grooveextending lengthwise under each of the two folding win gs. The uid,entering by the hole in the packingpiece into one of the grooves,presses outward one ofthe folding wings, and causes the inner cylinder,to which it is jointed, to revolve, the one wing which is being pressedout by the iiuid opening out to accommodate itself to the eccentricityof the cylindrical surface on which its edge bears, while the other wingis being folded inward as it approaches the line of contact of the twocylinders. The supply of working-fluid continues as long as any part ofthe semicircular groove in the end of the rotating cylinder faces thesupply-hole in the packing-piece. By inserting a stop in any desiredpart of this semicircular groove, the sup- I ply of fluid can be cut oiiat any desired period of a revolution, permitting the fluid alreadyadmitted to work expansively during the remainder of the revolution. Thefluid, after having done its work by pressing one of the wings around agreat part of a revolution, escapes by a discharge-orifice in the sideof the Xed-cylinder casing near the point of its contact with therotating cylinder. Before, however. the one folding wing reaches thepoint of discharge, the other has begun to be acted on by theworking-fluid, and thus continued rotation of the inner cylinder issecured.

In order to render the line of contact of the inner and outer cylinderstight against the leakage of the working-fluid past it, notwithstandingwear, I mount in a cavity provided in the outer-cylinder casing, at theline of contact, a folding wing, jointed so as to fold in the oppositedirection to those on the rotating cylinder, and I make a communicationby a small groove to the space under this wing against the surface ofthe rotating cylinder.

Although I have described the admission of Working-Huid as taking placeonly at one end of the cylinder-casing, by the like arrangement ofadmission-hole and semicircular grooves at the other end of thecylindercasing the uid may be admitted also there.

Figure l of the drawings shows a longitudinal section of the vengine online a: x, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 shows an end view of the engine with the coverremoved. Fig. 3'sl1ows a cross-section on line y y.

The steam is supplied through the pipe O to the cavity Q, between thecover ofthe cylinder casing and the loose piston-packing P, which isthereby,pressed against the end of the rotating cylinder D, thusinsuring the steam-tight contact of the end surfaces thereof with theouter-cylinder casing. From the space Q the steam enters the annularspace r r of the rotating cylinder D through the passage A. The cylinderD is fixed on the shaft K eccentrically within the cylinder-casing C, sothat at one point of its circumference it is in contact with the latter.It has hinged to it at o o1 two folding wings, E F, at opposite points,which, when folded back, as at E, fit into corresponding recesses in thecylinder D,

and, when folded outward, as at F, bear with their edges on the innersurface of the cylindercasing C.

Behind these wings small channels a a are formed in the cylinder D,which communicate with the annular spaces 1' r', so that the steamentering these will pass through such channels to the back of the wings,and tend to press these outward against the cylinder-casing C, and thesteam, in fllling the space between the two cylinders behind the wing,will eiect the rotation of the cylinder.

The annular space at the end of the cylinder D being divided by radialpartitions into two separate semicircular compartments, it will be seenthat when the one partition passes the inlet-passage A the steam-supplywill be cut ofi" from the one compartment, say i", and will enter theother, say 1^'. The steam is thus cut ofi' from the space between thecylinders behind the wing F, and when the cylinder D has rotated so farthat the point of contact between F and the cylinder casing U has passedbeyond the exhaust-passage M, the steam will escape from the spacebehind F while it is entering the space behind E. The wing F will at thesame time, by the rotation of the cylinder, be gradually pressed backinto its recess, as shown at E.

In order always to insure a steam-tight contact between the twocylinders, notwithstanding any wear, a ap, N, hinged to thecylinder-casing C at o2, and fitted in a cavity therein, is pressedagainst the cylinder D by steampressure, which has access to the spacebehind it through a small channel, o, formed in the cylinder-casing C.The iiap N is hinged in the contrary direction to E and F, so that itoers no obstacle to these in revolving.

It will be seen that, when the cylinder D has revolved so far that thepartition at 1', in passing the steam-port A, cuts off the supply ofsteam to the space behind the wingF, the steam will thus act cxpansivelyin such space until it is made to communicate with the exhaustport, asdescribed. When it is required that the engine shall work with variableexpansion, the cylinder D is constructed as shown at Figs. 1 and 2.

The annular channels lr 1" have semicircular grooves g g formed in themfor the reception of movable partitions Gr G, so that in f1tting thesepartitions in one or other of these grooves, as shown, the supply ofsteam is limited to that portion of the channels i' r between thepartitions G and the wings E F.

In order not to have to remove the cover of the engine and packing-pieceA every time the partitions G require to be shifted for varyin g theexpansion, holes corresponding with the form of the partitions, andclosed by covers, are made in the cover and the packing, so that byturning the piston until the required grooves in the channelsa r' arebrought opposite the holes the partitions can be inserted through them.

The hinge-joints of the wings E and F and of the iiap N may either beformed by a pin passing through eyes in the wings or aps, as shown ato2, or they may be more conveniently formed, as at o1, without any pin,the rounded parts being .merely iorked, so as to fit in between eachother.

The admission of steam behind the pistonpacking P being limited to theannular space Q, the pressure exerted thereby is only sufticient tomaintain a steam-tight joint without producing any such friction aswould act as a brake on the cylinder D. The steam might, however, bemade to act upon the entire back surface of the packing` if of lowpressure.

The steam may either be introduced only at one end of the cylinder D orat both ends thereof, in which case both ends would be formed with thechannels r r', as indicated on the drawing.

A small notch is formed at f, Fig. l, in the packing P, in order thatthe edge thereof may form no impediment to the motion of the iiap N.

Owing to the great speed at which the above-described engine is capableof running, the steam might not be capable of expanding to the desiredextent. In this case two such engines might advantageously be arrangedclosely side by side, the two revolving cylinders being xed on one andthe same shaft, andthe exhaust steam from the one engine be made to passinto the other engine, to do duty therein by` expansion, as in ordinarycompound engines.

Having thus described the nature of my invention, and in what manner thesame is to performed, I claim- Ihe arrangement of the semicircularchannels 1' r with xed partitions, whereby the supply of steam is cutoi', and with movable partitions, whereby the expansive action of thesteam may be varied.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification beforetwo subscribing witnesses.

v P. B. MARTIN.

Witnesses:

P. O. SAU', LucrrzN` MEIssUER.

